Acton-Boxborough boys basketball captures Div. 1 Central crown

Stephen Tobey stobey@wickedlocal.com @stobeywlsports

Saturday

Mar 9, 2019 at 5:13 AMMar 9, 2019 at 11:27 AM

Friday night, the Acton-Boxboro boys basketball team avenged last season’s first-round tournament loss and captured its first sectional championship since 2002 with a 53-41 victory over Algonquin Regional at Worcester State University.

WORCESTER – The players on this year’s Acton-Boxborough boys basketball team are too young to remember the last time the Colonials won a sectional title, but they do remember how last season ended.

On Friday, March 8, A-B avenged last season’s first-round tournament loss and captured its first sectional championship since 2002 with a 53-41 victory over Algonquin Regional at Worcester State University.

“It was on my mind all day,” said A-B senior Stanley Bernard, who led all scorers with 15 points. “Ever since last year, I’ve been thinking about it. And to play them in the final was great.”

A-B (21-2) advanced to the state semifinal for the first time since 2002, when it won the Division 1 North title. The Colonials will face West champion Putnam of Springfield. The game will be played at either AIC in Springfield or Worcester State on Tuesday or Wednesday.

“We just took it game by game and practice by practice,” Bernard said. “Now here we are.”

Algonquin, which reached the Central final last year, finished its season at 18-5.

“We didn’t talk about last year,” said A-B coach Sercan Fenerci, who is in his first year with the program. “We’re a different team. They’re a different team. We knew that anyone who made the Central final was going to be a very good team, one of the top eight in the state.”

The Colonials led throughout the game, holding an 11-3 edge at the end of the first quarter. It was 17-3 early in the third and at halftime, A-B led, 26-17 after the Tomahawks closed out the half with a 5-2 run.

A-B’s Lukas DeSchepper (14 points) opened the second half with baskets on three straight trips down the floor. Avery Ghose’s 3-pointer gave A-B a 35-22 lead with 2:50 left in the third

Algonquin responded with eight straight points, 3-pointers from Artem Segarra and Sean Cullen, and a shot under the basket from Alex Karaban, to cut A-B’s lead to 5, 35-30, with 1:16 left in the third.

Austin Zhou (12 points) made a jumper with 55 seconds left in the quarter, giving A-B a 37-30 edge going into the game’s final eight minutes.

In the fourth, A-B outscored the Tomahawks, 16-11.

“We were prepared for it,” Zhou said. “We wanted to stop their fast break. We did a good job doing that and they didn’t get into their rhythm.”

Said Fenerci, “They have tremendous 3-point shooters. [Karaban] and [Brian Duffy] are very good players. We wanted to stop them.”

With eight seniors on its roster, the Colonials credit their experience and leadership for what they’ve accomplished.

“We’re a very close group,” Zhou said. “We hold each other accountable.”

Said Fenerci, “They had experience from last year, which was great. They played a lot of minutes last year. We had a chance to have that leadership. We have a guy like Finn Murray, who was the [Dual County League Large] offensive player of the year in football. He led us in the locker room. “He’s one of our sacred leaders, along with Austin Zhou and Shea Doherty. They push each other in practice.”